Probation Officer Yvette Sarmiento interviews one of her probationers Thursday at the Monterey County Probation Office in Salinas. Conner Jay/the salinas californian

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SUNITA VIJAYAN

Probation Officer Yvette Sarmiento works with one of her probationers Thursday at the Monterey County Probation Office in Salinas. Conner Jay/the salinas californian

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What happens after a person, convicted of a crime, is sentenced to probation? What comes after an arrest?

These are just a few of the questions that pushed Yvette Sarmiento to become a Monterey County deputy probation officer.

Today, eight years into the job, Sarmiento oversees about 40 high-risk probationers — those considered the most likely to reoffend.

Sarmiento is one of 20 deputy probation officers, tasked with making sure more than 3,000 adult probationers are walking the straight line of the law.

Those numbers will likely increase soon, as Gov. Jerry Brown's Public Safety Realignment plan goes into effect Oct. 1 across the state. The plan would send tens of thousands of lower-level criminals from state prisons to county jails — in the case of Monterey County, an already crowded jail.

The policy is supposed to yield cost savings for the state and help it comply with a federal court order to reduce prison inmate populations.

Being a probation officer, Sarmiento said, always interested her and when she heard about a job opening while working at the county Juvenile Hall, she jumped at the chance.

"It's more [about] what happens to people when they get arrested," she said, referring to her interest in rehabilitating convicted criminals. "What happens after the fact? You know, aside from the fact of being incarcerated. Really, what happens behind being convicted of a crime?"

These questions tie in to the goal of the Probation Department, Sarmiento said, which determines how best to help a probationer avoid committing another crime and develop a life that contributes to society. She said probationers' needs can range from drug treatment to anger management programs to "life skills" training, such as learning to read and how to get a job.

Changeover in the air

As the Public Safety Realignment program rolls out, Assistant Chief Probation Officer Marcia Parsons said, the county will receive $4,406,336 in program funds for use from Oct. 1 through June 30. Of that money, $3.8 million will go to supervision, jailing, jail alternatives, or treatment and rehabilitation of the offenders who are coming out of the prisons, Parsons said. The funds will be shared among county agencies, including the Probation and Behavioral Health departments and the Sheriff's Office. Another $421,450 will be used for one-time planning, training and implementation related to the program.

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With just a week until Oct. 1, the department's adult division director Todd Keating said the county's in the midst of preparations.

On Thursday, the executive committee of the Correction Community Partnership voted 6-1 in favor of the county's realignment plan. The group was formed to enact the plan, which is slated go before the county Board of Supervisors on Oct. 4.

Parson said the vote will be ratified at the partnership's meeting at 4 p.m. Monday.

Among the recommendations, Keating said, are hiring an additional six probation officers to oversee the incoming offenders and three more to shore up the home-monitoring program. The added officers, won't be hired all at once but as the need becomes apparent, he said.

The plan calls for each probation officer to oversee 50 of the realignment plan offenders, Keating said. The department is anticipating 30 prisoners per month will be released to county supervision between October and June, he said. Within three to four years, the state estimates the county will have an average daily count of 309 people from the realignment program, Keating said.

Those being released through what is called "Post Release Community Supervision," he said, have been convicted of low-level felony offenses. Lower-level felony offenders are non-violent, non-serious and non-sex offenders.

"Although this represents an increase of 300, over time, to our caseloads, it does not represent an increase of offenders in the community," Parsons said. "These are individuals who would have been released on parole to Monterey County, but now they are being released on [Post Release Community Supervision] or 'probation.' These individuals would normally be in our community — they reside here."

Gauging the risk

Once a judge orders a criminal to probation, Parsons said, the Probation Department uses an evidence-based evaluation to determine the level of supervision needed, according to whether the probationer is thought to have a high, moderate or low risk of committing another crime.

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Based on the outcome of the assessment, such matters as how often a probationer must meet with the supervising officer are decided. Low- to medium-risk case loads are not as intensely supervised as high risk ones, Parsons said.

High-risk caseloads are supervised intensely with one probation officer for about 60 offenders, Keating said. Right now, the department has about 14 of these caseloads which are strictly felonies. In the moderate risk category, some 225 offenders whose crimes are both misdemeanors and felonies are assigned to an officer, he said, creating five caseloads.

The Probation Department said there are other officers providing supervision to specific types of offenders, such as drug court, the mentally ill and probationers supervised at the lowest level, where minimal supervision is needed. There are about 1,000 offenders in this low-risk group.

Technical violations to probation terms are the most common cause of reoffending, Keating said.

Different every day

Sarmiento said the best thing about her job is that it's a little different every day. She may meet with a probationer in her office, then go out for field checks or home visits. She may also ferry probationers to treatment interviews or check up on them while they're in a program.

It's also important to obtain frequent progress updates from each probationer.

"I wouldn't say I'm their best friend, but I would say as probation officers, if there's a need for something then we have to direct them," Sarmiento said. " 'OK, this is where you need to go,' or 'This is what we can give you — a referral.' So we're here to help direct them in the right direction."

Right now, her clients range from age 19 through their 60s. She makes contact with them at least twice a month — face to face, by phone or in the field. For some clients, she said, the contact is more frequent; she may talk to them twice a week or more.

Officers use a database to help keep track of the dozens of probationers in their caseloads. The database allows officers to track items including the last contact made and when the probationer needs to start a program, Sarmiento said.

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Time management skills and the database are tools that are especially crucial when dealing with a high volume of cases, she said. Previously, she's had as many as 300 people in her caseload.

When a new case is assigned to an officer, the work begins even if the client is still in custody, Sarmiento said. Through review of the court's orders, the officer is able to determine what the probationer's immediate needs are and take care of any referrals before the prisoner is released from custody, she said.

"What does this person need to be done? Do they need help?" she said. Sarmiento determines if they need substance abuse treatment, anger management training, further education — anything that might transform the probationers into contributing community members.

Getting probationers sufficiently motivated to make life changes is the biggest challenge of Sarmiento's job, she said. It can be difficult to get a probationer to understand the importance of making changes to his life and the value of persevering through hardship, she said.

"Get off probation and stay out of the system — those are the tools we want to hand out," Sarmiento said. "That's the goal — get off probation successfully. Not because you're going to prison, but because you are able to make some changes."